FXCM Reviews and Account Opening Terms

We test all available fxcm broker platforms for each broker – whether they are proprietary or come from third-party providers – and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables. For traders who appreciate advanced trading tools and quality market research, FXCM is a winner – especially for algorithmic trading. Though its range of tradeable markets is growing, it remains fairly narrow, and the pricing at FXCM is just average. We tested the credit card withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days. There are no account, deposit, or credit/debit card withdrawal fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of FXCM for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates. Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

The Jefferies Financial Group is a listed company on the New York Exchange It has an merchant banking background. He majority economic owner of FXCM is the Jefferies Financial Group. The background of the broker matters, as a strong economic owner company reduces the chance that the company will go bust. This shows whether you should buy or sell, based on technical indicators like RSI or MACD. FXCM’s desktop platform has great customizability and a good variety of order types. It is surprisingly difficult to find the search option, as the ‘Settings’ menu is not at all an obvious location for it – but that’s where it is.

• Since 1999, FXCM, also known as Forex Capital Markets, has been a pioneer in developing online forex offerings for retail traders.
• The company’s portfolio includes CFDs of indices, commodities, forex and cryptocurrencies.
• Research and educational content are of good quality, but trails category leaders such as IG and Saxo Bank in terms of quantity and variety.
• It provides four APIs for free, and you can buy many others.

Effective spreads for forex and CFD trading are slightly higher than the industry average. FXCM’s web trading platform is extremely customizable, provides a wide range of order types and has a great search function. The FXCM minimum deposit is $/€/£50(via credit/depit card) for both account types.

Popular Platforms

Since 2015, Leucadia has been the majority economic owner of the broker, adding to the platform’s scale. FXCM is regulated by the FCA in the U.K., which includes default insurance of up to GBP 50,000 for FXCM and up to GBP 85,000 if the custodial bank fails. FXCM is also regulated by ASIC in Australia, and FSCA in South Africa. Our research team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of features, products, services, and tools .

• Leucadia Investments is part of the merchant banking arm of Jefferies Financial Group.
• So, whether you’re new to online trading or you’re an experienced investor, FXCM has customisable account types and services for all levels of retail traders.
• FXCM has benefited from the scale and breadth of the Jefferies family of companies.
• In case of a reversal from this level, the price could potentially drop to our take profit level at 1984, which aligns with a swing low support level.
• Bank withdrawal fees are high and trading platforms lack a secure two-step login.
• The company now has its headquarter in London, United Kingdom and maintains offices in key locations such as Australia, South Africa, and a number of European countries.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. There are multiple options both for deposits and withdrawals, but bank withdrawals have high fees and only a few account currencies are available. These catch-all benchmark fees includes spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers.

Fundamental data

Live webinars, pre-recorded videos and pdf booklets are available for free. These cover topics ranging from trading basics to platform tips and tricks. You can reach them in many ways and you will get fast and relevant answers.

He heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com and is respected by executives as the leading expert covering the online broker industry. Blain’s insights have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among other media outlets. An experienced media professional, John has close to a decade of editorial experience with a background that includes key leadership roles at global newsroom outlets. The range of products available to you will depend on which global entity under the FXCM Group houses your trading account.

TradingView Pro

ForexBrokers.com has been reviewing online forex brokers for over six years, and our reviews are the most cited in the industry. Each year, we collect thousands of data points and publish tens of thousands of words of research. You can’t change the leverage levels of the products, which is a drawback.

The https://forexhero.info/ application is as easy to use as the web version of FXCM, which is complete with the option to bring dynamic charts to full screen for convenience. The only downside is a lack of customization in the applications, and there is no additional security, just the login password. You can use the mobile version of MT4 or download the mobile application for Trading Station for full functionality.

Exclusive Trading Tools

There are enough educational tools to give beginners a head start, particularly when combined with the demo account. The research tools and speakers can appeal to more experienced traders. We also take an in-depth look at each broker’s commissions and fees, such as bid/ask spreads – including the average spread data for some of the most popular forex currency pairs. We research other trading costs, such as inactivity or custody fees, minimum deposit requirements, VIP rebates and/or discounts, and a range of other important fee-based data points. FXCM offers a good selection of markets, but some other platforms do offer more. You can use FXCM to trade forex, cryptocurrency CFDs, indices, or gold.

On the negative side, FXCM provides only CFDs , thus popular asset classes like real stocks or ETFs are missing. Lastly, the trading platforms don’t offer safer two-step authentication. BrokerChooser gave FXCM a 4.4/5 rating based on analyzing 500+ criteria and testing via opening a live account. FXCM is one of the forex platforms with the longest histories, providing a reputation of reliability.

FXCM charges no withdrawal fees for credit/debit cards, but bank transfers may cost up to $40. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don’t have to pay a conversion fee. We also compared FXCM’s fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Forex.com and Pepperstone. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc.

Just like Trading Station’s web version, the desktop trading platform hasgreat customizability. It is fast and stable and its charting solution is really advanced. The FXCM mobile trading platform isuser-friendly and well-designed. However, when we tested the platform on iOS, we felt that the platform’s layout was not optimized for newer iOS versions. Similarly to FXCM’s web trading platform, we tested FXCM’s own mobile trading platform, Trading Station.It is available both for iOS and Android.

The minimum deposit for debit/credit cards is $50, with a maximum of $10,000 per transaction or up to $20,000 per calendar month. Because of the range of platforms offered by FXCM, there are options that are simple enough for beginners in addition to choices that have the features and tools experienced traders seek. Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 2,500 trades placed during that time.

FXCM Markets is not required to hold any financial services license or authorization in St Vincent and the Grenadines to offer its products and services. An award winning and leading provider of online foreign exchange trading, stocks, CFD trading, Crypto and related services worldwide. Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry.

First, let’s go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees. We ranked FXCM’s fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers. Providing insight, expertise and execution to investors, companies and government entities, Jefferies provides FXCM with prime brokerage services for FX trading. Beginning in January 2015, through a series of transactions, Leucadia Investments has become the majority economic owner of FXCM. Leucadia Investments is part of the merchant banking arm of Jefferies Financial Group.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is a common owner of both FXCM Group and JFSI. Based on the H4 chart analysis, the price is nearing our sell entry at 2009, which is a multi swing high resistance level which lines up with a 50% Fibonacci retracement. In case of a reversal from this level, the price could potentially drop to our take profit level at 1984, which aligns with a swing low support level.

It provides four APIs for free, and you can buy many others. The free APIs are REST API, FIX API, Java API and a ForexConnect API. The FXCM desktop platform has clear portfolio and fee reports. However, first you need to get used to the logic of the platform before you can become a power-user.

We have placed our stop loss at 1.1071, which coincides with a swing high resistance level. Moreover, our take profit level is at 1.0910, which is an overlap support level. Based on the H4 chart analysis, price is approaching our sell entry at 1.0919, which is an overlap support level which lines up with a 61.8% Fibonacci retracement. In case of a reversal from this level, the price could potentially push to our take profit level at 1.0976, which aligns with a 38.2% Fibonacci retracement and overlap resistance level.

Tools

So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products. There are abundant support resources online and on the FXCM website for ZuluTrade, MetaTrader 4, and NinjaTrader, as all three are used by numerous forex brokers. You will also find plenty of support for FXCM’s Trading Station and forex trading in general in the education section. This includes trading guides, speakers, a video library, and a live classroom. In addition to the Real Volume indicators, Trading Station from FXCM has other tools, such as those for drawing trend lines, using price overlays, and identifying Fibonacci levels.

There are two major types of accounts offered by FXCM, Standard Accounts with minimum deposits of $50 and Premium Accounts with a minimum of $20,000. You can also open an Islamic (interest-free) account by submitting a form. Individual self-traded clients cannot open Percent Allocated Money Management accounts, but these are available for referring and introducing brokers. Active traders with high volumes receive discounted pricing of up to 60 percent less on spreads, dedicated support, and institutional-derived trade ideas.

Trading foreign exchange/CFDs with any level of leverage may not be suitable for all investors. The bank withdrawal fees depend on the currency and where the target bank account is located. Volume, trader sentiment and other ready-to-go trading tools turn FXCM data into powerful market insights. Withdrawals are completed via credit or debit cards or bank transfers. The amount you withdraw to a debit/credit card cannot exceed the amount originally deposited. Withdrawals via cards do not have fees, but there is a $40 fee for bank wire withdrawals.

FXCM dates back to 1999, making it one of the earliest forex brokers. It was originally founded in the United States with its U.K. Despite originally opening in the U.S., FXCM is not currently available to U.S. clients, although it is available in a range of other markets worldwide.